I finally finished my essay. I was supposed to e-mail it to my professor before midnight. It ended up taking a little bit longer than I thought and it wasn’t done until 4am. I got an e-mail from my professor this morning and he didn’t mention it being late, so I’m not too worried. I am just incredibly relieved that it’s done.

Next up is a course in Academic English. I’ve been looking at the assignments, slide shows and articles the professor has put on the school web and I really like what I’m seeing. I have a great deal of experience writing “every-day” blog English. It will be nice to get some training in writing more academically. And my vocabulary could do with some additions.

I think a great deal of people don’t realize that the “nice guy” label is in fact a really bad one. Like the awesome women at Heartless Bitches International explain it:

All too often we hear self-professed “Nice Guys” complaining about why they can’t get a date, and whining that women just want to date jerks, etc. etc. The truth of the matter is that there are genuinely caring, compassionate, decent, fun guys out there who have NO TROUBLE meeting people, getting dates, and having relationships.

Unfortunately, many of the guys who DO have trouble, insist that women don’t want them because they are “too Nice”. These people who call themselves “Nice Guys” can’t see that THEIR OWN behavior is the problem. That behavior either drives women away or attracts the WORST kind of predator – one who is manipulative and self-serving. Whether it is targeting women who are troubled to begin with, setting themselves up to be taken advantage of, or acting in a manipulative, patronizing or obsequious fashion, these guys sabotage themselves and often blame “all women” for their misfortunes.

There are many good articles and comments there from both men and women. I believe this should be a required reading for all. For men so that they learn how to not be a Nice Guy (TM) and for women so they can avoid the Nice Guy (TM).